“…for we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7, NRSV)

In the Star Wars series of movies and books, there was a crucial training time for the young hero, Luke. Early on in his experience of the power of the Force and power of the Dark Side, Luke is told by his teacher, Obi-Wan, “Your eyes can deceive you, don’t trust them.” In the movies, viewers understood the wisdom of this saying as Luke learned to lean on the Jedi Force and not trust his eyes, which at times failed him. Movie-goers thought it wise for Obi-Wan to teach Luke such an important aspect of training.
At the time this scene played out in the theaters, those who viewed the movies thought very highly of the wisdom taught to Luke, “Your eyes can deceive you, don’t trust them”. As a pastor, I saw these words differently. I didn’t see them as a “new revelation”. These words have long been part of the spiritual learning taught in the Bible. These words have, in fundamental form, been around since the days of the Old Testament, more than 2800 years ago!
When the prophet Samuel was sent by God to anoint the future king of Israel from the family of Jesse, there was a poignant exchange between God and Samuel. As Samuel looked upon Jesse’s family to determine which of the children would be the next king of Israel, Samuel’s eyes were deceived. Samuel saw Eliab, the firstborn son of Jesse, and was impressed. Samuel said to himself, “Surely, this is the Lord’s anointed!” (1 Samuel 16:6). God immediately corrected Samuel by saying, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”” (1 Samuel 16:7). Later, Samuel found that the youngest son of Jesse (David), the smallest of them all, was the one God had chosen to be the next king.
Over and over in the Old Testament, God proved that people could be deceived with their eyes. Just as the prophet Samuel’s eyes couldn’t see the potential in David to be king, many others had the same fault in trusting their eyesight instead of faithful insight.
*Moses couldn’t “see” how he could be sent to Egypt to free the Israelites from bondage to Pharaoh. God explained over and over in Exodus 4 how Moses was so very wrong.
*In the wilderness, the people of Israel murmured against God and Moses because they were hungry and thirsty. They couldn’t “see” how God would take care of their needs. God sent manna and quail to feed the people. God had Moses strike a rock to bring needed water. God saw the need and fulfilled it.
*Gideon couldn’t see how Israel could fight back against the Midianite armies who had thousands of strong, capable men. God hand-picked 300 soldiers from Israel that utterly defeated the Midianites (Judges 7).
*Elijah fled into the wilderness wanting to give up on life in the face of intense pressure and death threats by King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Elijah just couldn’t see a way out of the overwhelming threats against him. God destroyed Ahab and Jezebel, sending Elijah on his way to anoint the next prophet over Judah.
When will we learn that our eyes can deceive us? Your eyes can stop you from perceiving God’s plan or understanding a holy moment!
The scripture for today comes from 2 Corinthians 5:7. It is a short, but valuable piece of scripture. It teaches that true children of God “walk by faith, not by sight”. This verse of the Bible may contain only six words, but those words come with a monumental truth. If you trust your physical eyes alone, you will be deceived because you are meant to walk by faith, NOT by sight.
Faith can help you see what your eyes cannot perceive. Faith can help you understand what your eyes cannot fathom. People place so much emphasis on life based on what they see with their eyes instead of what they perceive of God’s action around them.
Imagine if all you could experience in life was based solely on what you could see. You would not know of the power of electricity, because you can’t see electrons moving in a wire. You could not understand the dangers of radioactivity, because your eyes cannot pick up on dangerous radiation. TV broadcasts, two-way radio communications, cell phone transmissions and so much more would be inconceivable to the naked eye alone. It took more than plain sight to reveal all these natural and man-made powers.
In the same way that physical eyesight alone limits your ability to perceive many things in the world around you, not having spiritual “eyesight” will limit your ability to perceive spiritual powers nearby. Just as physical eyes cannot pick up the odor of burnt toast, a person who has no relationship with God often can’t “pick up on” spiritual forces immediately apparent. If you trust your physical eyesight when going into a fight with demonic forces, you will lose horrifically. You don’t stand a chance. You need spiritual weapons in order to fight spiritual forces. Physical eyesight has no spiritual power. Faith, holy knowledge, godly wisdom, prayer, and the Holy Spirit can give you great advantage in spiritual realms. You need to learn to rely on them for spiritual protection just as you rely on physical eyesight for physical protection.
Do you use your eyes too often in judging things of the spiritual world? Do you judge others or situations based on what you can see but not spiritually perceive? Do you fail to see God’s possibilities because you are blinded by worldly vision? Ask God to show you the spiritual world around you! Learn of the spiritual gifts like those listed in Ephesians 6:10ff. Use your God-given spiritual powers! See the wisdom in today’s scripture passage… “we walk by faith, not by sight”…..
At the time this scene played out in the theaters, those who viewed the movies thought very highly of the wisdom taught to Luke, “Your eyes can deceive you, don’t trust them”. As a pastor, I saw these words differently. I didn’t see them as a “new revelation”. These words have long been part of the spiritual learning taught in the Bible. These words have, in fundamental form, been around since the days of the Old Testament, more than 2800 years ago!
When the prophet Samuel was sent by God to anoint the future king of Israel from the family of Jesse, there was a poignant exchange between God and Samuel. As Samuel looked upon Jesse’s family to determine which of the children would be the next king of Israel, Samuel’s eyes were deceived. Samuel saw Eliab, the firstborn son of Jesse, and was impressed. Samuel said to himself, “Surely, this is the Lord’s anointed!” (1 Samuel 16:6). God immediately corrected Samuel by saying, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”” (1 Samuel 16:7). Later, Samuel found that the youngest son of Jesse (David), the smallest of them all, was the one God had chosen to be the next king.
Over and over in the Old Testament, God proved that people could be deceived with their eyes. Just as the prophet Samuel’s eyes couldn’t see the potential in David to be king, many others had the same fault in trusting their eyesight instead of faithful insight.
*Moses couldn’t “see” how he could be sent to Egypt to free the Israelites from bondage to Pharaoh. God explained over and over in Exodus 4 how Moses was so very wrong.
*In the wilderness, the people of Israel murmured against God and Moses because they were hungry and thirsty. They couldn’t “see” how God would take care of their needs. God sent manna and quail to feed the people. God had Moses strike a rock to bring needed water. God saw the need and fulfilled it.
*Gideon couldn’t see how Israel could fight back against the Midianite armies who had thousands of strong, capable men. God hand-picked 300 soldiers from Israel that utterly defeated the Midianites (Judges 7).
*Elijah fled into the wilderness wanting to give up on life in the face of intense pressure and death threats by King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Elijah just couldn’t see a way out of the overwhelming threats against him. God destroyed Ahab and Jezebel, sending Elijah on his way to anoint the next prophet over Judah.
When will we learn that our eyes can deceive us? Your eyes can stop you from perceiving God’s plan or understanding a holy moment!
The scripture for today comes from 2 Corinthians 5:7. It is a short, but valuable piece of scripture. It teaches that true children of God “walk by faith, not by sight”. This verse of the Bible may contain only six words, but those words come with a monumental truth. If you trust your physical eyes alone, you will be deceived because you are meant to walk by faith, NOT by sight.
Faith can help you see what your eyes cannot perceive. Faith can help you understand what your eyes cannot fathom. People place so much emphasis on life based on what they see with their eyes instead of what they perceive of God’s action around them.
Imagine if all you could experience in life was based solely on what you could see. You would not know of the power of electricity, because you can’t see electrons moving in a wire. You could not understand the dangers of radioactivity, because your eyes cannot pick up on dangerous radiation. TV broadcasts, two-way radio communications, cell phone transmissions and so much more would be inconceivable to the naked eye alone. It took more than plain sight to reveal all these natural and man-made powers.
In the same way that physical eyesight alone limits your ability to perceive many things in the world around you, not having spiritual “eyesight” will limit your ability to perceive spiritual powers nearby. Just as physical eyes cannot pick up the odor of burnt toast, a person who has no relationship with God often can’t “pick up on” spiritual forces immediately apparent. If you trust your physical eyesight when going into a fight with demonic forces, you will lose horrifically. You don’t stand a chance. You need spiritual weapons in order to fight spiritual forces. Physical eyesight has no spiritual power. Faith, holy knowledge, godly wisdom, prayer, and the Holy Spirit can give you great advantage in spiritual realms. You need to learn to rely on them for spiritual protection just as you rely on physical eyesight for physical protection.
Do you use your eyes too often in judging things of the spiritual world? Do you judge others or situations based on what you can see but not spiritually perceive? Do you fail to see God’s possibilities because you are blinded by worldly vision? Ask God to show you the spiritual world around you! Learn of the spiritual gifts like those listed in Ephesians 6:10ff. Use your God-given spiritual powers! See the wisdom in today’s scripture passage… “we walk by faith, not by sight”…..